Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of adult blindness in the United States after AMD (age-related macular degeneration) it is the second most common cause resulting in vision loss. Around 2.2 million Americans age 40 and above have the glaucoma, and, as the condition does not express any symptoms in its primary stages, half of them unaware of the disease. According to researchers 5 to 10 million people are at high risk for the glaucoma

Types of glaucoma

Open-angle glaucoma: It contributes in almost 90 % of all glaucoma cases reported in the United States, develops slowly and don’t mention any superficial symptoms until reach to later stages.

Closed-angle glaucoma: It occurs mostly in people of Chinese ancestry and few other Asian groups. The difference between open-angle and closed-angle glaucoma is ended by examining the front portion of the eye to test the angle where the iris meets the cornea. Both types can result in blindness by destructing the optic nerve. Even people with normal IOP can experience damage to the optic nerve. In fact, 25 to 30 percent of people suffer glaucoma do not have imminent interocular pressure (IOP) levels.

Causes of Glaucoma

The eye produces about one teaspoon of aqueous humor each day, a transparent fluid that provides nutrients to, and take away waste products of the lens and cornea. Normally, fluid production and drainage are in equilibrium, and IOP is in-between 12 and 22 mm Hg.

Cataract affects the most sensitive sensory organ of the body i.e. eye. A cataract is a development of a cloud in the eye’s natural lens. The cloud lies behind the iris and the pupil. The lens of eye works much like a camera lens. It focuses light onto the retina at the back part of the eye. These lens also adjusts the focus, which enables us to see things clearly either these are too close or far away.

The lens mostly consists of water and specific proteins (crystallins). These specific proteins in the lens perform specific functions. These are responsible for maintaining the clarity of the lens. As the age passes, the structures of these lens proteins reshape or some proteins start to combine together which result in clouding of the lens .This condition is called cataract which over the time grows. Larger cloud covers most of the lens making almost impossible to see.

Researchers are trying to gain the root cause with which these specific proteins make clusters in abnormal ways which causes lens cataracts. One recent theory suggests that the fragmented parts of these proteins combine with normal proteins, thus creating abnormal functioning. At birth or during early childhood, cataracts occurrence is very rare. It only occurs due to hereditary enzyme defects in this age.